Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta had a slightly bizarre role in helping Barcelona pull off one of the signings of the season when they snapped up Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on a free at the end of the January transfer window.
The Gabon international had fallen out of favour with Arteta at Arsenal, with the Gunners ending up terminating his contract after removing him as club captain and dropping him from the playing squad.
However, the Daily Mail claim that Arteta then talked up how good Aubameyang was to Barcelona manager Xavi, despite the Catalan giants initially preferring to move for Alvaro Morata.
It’s not clear what went wrong here, but the report suggests Arteta still rated Aubameyang highly, even if he didn’t feel he was the right choice to be Arsenal’s captain.
Arsenal fans will surely be disappointed, however, that Arteta didn’t try harder to repair his relationship with Aubameyang if he felt so highly of him.
The 32-year-old has looked back to his best since moving to the Nou Camp, showing just what AFC are missing up front.
Given that Aubameyang was made available on a free and has helped turn Barcelona’s season around like this, he’s likely to go down as one of the signings of the season – and a total gift from Arsenal.
If Arsenal miss out on Champions League football, the freezing out and free transfer of Aubameyang will go down as one of the biggest managerial blunders in Arteta’s long list of similar moves, as well as Arsenal history.
Arsenal need a midfielder who scores, provides assists, and defends. They have one, but he’s playing for Marseilles. Arsenal are thin at center back. One of Europe’s best is an Arsenal player, but he too is playing at Marseilles. Arsenal are short at right back, and Arsenal’s on-loan right back Hector Bellerin is part of the Real Betis team knocking on the Champions League door in La Liga.
Good teams do not squander good players. Arsenal do. Great teams can keep the players not in the first XI happy by paying them well and reassuring them of their value. Arsenal have proven unable to do that under Arteta. Will he learn how, will the Gunners ever have the resources to have quality in depth?